ASIA/TURKEY - The Ecumenical Patriarchate rejects the "false allegations" regarding the involvement in the failed coup

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Istanbul - The Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople deplores the "false allegations" that have circulated in recent days in the Turkish press regarding the involvement of Ecumenical Patriarch Bartholomew I in the failed coup attempt in Turkey on 15 July. The disapproval of the Ecumenical Patriarchate was announced by protopresbyter Dositheos Agnostpoulos, responsible of the patriarchal press Office, with a statement, which refers to the Article by former US diplomat Arthur Hughes and published in mid-August on the website www.orietnalreview.org, which was presented by the Turkish press as a source of rumors regarding the ecumenical Patriarchate. In fact, the same Hughes denied being the author of the article. Given the unclear aspects of the story, sources close to the Patriarchate report to agenzia Fides the impression that the whole operation was planned to embarrass Patriarch Bartholomew.On August 30 , the Turkish daily Aksam published an article of the alleged connivance of the CIA and the Ecumenical Patriarchate of Constantinople with the failed coup in Turkey on July 15, which according to Ankara was planned by Islamic preacher Fethullah Gulen - currently in exile in the United States - and his Hizmet movement.